[sjg007]

Donate cash to your food bank.

Mortgages, rent and utilities are all suspended almost everywhere, so are student loan payments. So hopefully people won’t be evicted and not have to worry about bills right now.

But I wonder if an instacart app for food bank delivery would be a good idea. Kind of like meals on wheels. Dunno.. it would beat queuing in cars for miles.

Maybe there’s a way to do crowd funded UBI... it could start around grocery stores maybe with grocery store gift cards..

Food deserts are a big thing though. It makes me think that there should be way to instacart deliver food to people.

[binarycrusader]

Mortgages, rent and utilities are all suspended almost everywhere

No, they are not. Not even close to almost everywhere.

Evictions are theoretically suspended in many places, but rent is definitely not and many suspect land / property owners are evicting people despite moratoriums on them due to local governments that are severely underfunded, understaffed, and/or overwhelmed that are not enforcing the moratoriums.

Ultimately, this situation can almost entirely be laid at the feet of the anemic and mismanaged response by the federal government. Most of this could likely have been prevented if stricter measures had been taken immediately. And even if they hadn't, most people could be far better off if it wasn't for the extreme levels of obstructionism and denial being exhibited by parts of their federal government.

Financial assistance should have been sent directly to individuals across the country instead of being absorbed by corporations that just wanted free money.

[true_religion]

This doesn’t make sense to me. Typically evictions are enforced by the local government and not the landlords. You have to apply and eviction then it’s the police or sherif that actually kicks the person out.

[binarycrusader]

Yes, as you hinted at, the first thing to note is that the local government isn't necessarily involved in an eviction. Owners of smaller properties have been known to change the locks and simply remove or discard a tenant's property and then deal with legal fallout (if the evicted tenant can even afford legal assistance) later. In other cases, residents aren't actually aware of their legal rights and allow themselves to be unlawfully evicted. Also, some property owners are abusing the system as we've seen in states like California where they claim to be intending to sell or occupy the property to force tenants out.

In smaller communities, it's not uncommon for the local government to enforce their own interpretations or rules placed at the state and local level.

In short, evictions are happening, even if they shouldn't be in many cases. And as moratoriums expire in the near future, we should expect many more Americans to become homeless or evicted due to the failure of primarily the federal government but some local and state governments as well.

Washington State, as an example, has publicly spoken out about unlawful evictions and has warned to pursue legal action against property owners that violate the state's moratorium on evictions. For example, just one example from April 2020:

https://www.q13fox.com/news/washington-attorney-general-dire...

Washington State's moratorium is currently set to expire in December:

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/states-eviction-moratorium-...

[Mediterraneo10]

> Mortgages, rent and utilities are all suspended almost everywhere.

Wait, seriously? I haven't been following events in the USA during this COVID year, but I assumed that things are like in most other developed countries with regard to things expected of people. In most European countries you still have to pay your rent and utilities every month, in spite of the noticeable economic slowdown.

[monetus]

An eviction moratium exists, but it doesn't cover your bills. "Almost everywhere," and "suspended", lack truthiness. As far as I know, unpaid rent and utilities will be owed. Some legislatures and housing organizations forgave periods of time, I think - that could certainly give you the impression that it is ubiquitous.

Anecdotal: the food pantry near my home is often busy now; much, much more so than last year.

[Frost1x]

AFAIK, late payments can also be subject to interest and late fees as well. So, while some might not be evicted during the pandemic, they might build up so much debt and interest without income during this time that when things are over, they'll be filing bankruptcy and be out in the streets at a different, future time. I guess it's better than being homeless during the pandemic?

Pretty sad state of affairs we have in the "developed" world.

[sjg007]

I expect that this will be solved by restructuring, bailouts and tax credits. The US govt buys most mortgages anyway. I think we will see massive government intervention hopefully we learnt the lessons of 2008.